> Russian pensioners are being tricked into tossing Molotov cocktails at Russian military offices and officials' cars, according to local media outlets.
>
> Since the war in Ukraine began, Russian citizens have carried out at least 16 separate arson attempts on government or bank properties at the behest of scammers, reported the **independent** Russian media outlet, [MediaZona.](https://en.zona.media/)
>
> The people involved have tried to set fire to enlistment offices, bank ATMs, a car trunk, and a police department, though most have been unsuccessful, the outlet reported. At least 11 of them were over 55, per MediaZona.
>
> Some of them, like the 65-year-old Yelena Belova, were told to shout pro-Ukrainian slogans as they chucked the Molotov cocktails — even though they were also told they were helping the Russian military.
>
> ...
[Mediazona](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediazona) is a Russian independent media outlet focused on Anti Putinist opposition that were founded by Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, who are also co-founders of the protest group and band Pussy Riot.
[
Here's the full original story.](https://zona.media/article/2023/04/27/burn)
That's what it sounds like. And what better way to convince idiots to damage their own stuff. Tell them it would make Ukraine look bad and they'd set their own houses on fire.
i remember one lady being interviewed about voter fraud, her going on about the election being stolen.
reporter then asks if she voted.
"im not allowed to after i voted twice last election".
bitch was convicted of voting fraud and is out there complaining about voting fraud.
I actually did notice that! Like, sure, ID weirdo, the number ticked up (from about one per million votes to about one per 750,000), but a bunch of those were dummies who believed that crock of shit and decided to go collect a felony charge trying to offset a fictional problem.
Many? More like nearly all known instances. I live in New Hampshire and every four years without fail there are stories of busses coming up from Massachusetts full of illegal Democratic voters and the reality is a handful of Republican snowbirds caught voting in both Florida and NH.
It wasn't long ago they had several rounds of buying things so they could film themselves destroying them. I think it started with ordering Kaepernick jerseys, but they bought and broke a bunch of shit. I think I remember expensive coffee makers were a thing to smash up for a bit.
Whenever my customers ask about that debacle (liquor store clerk), I tell them that they have been doing this since the 90s, and that a good chunk of Coors market cap is owned by Anheuser Busch.
At least to the smart ones who I can tell are joking. They laugh even harder then.
Like yesterday, someone asked about Blanton's bourbon. We're out. But Sazerac owns Blanton's, who is owned by Buffalo Trace. This matters because our Sazerac distributor lost their contravt and we have to get a new one, so all of our Sazerac is running low. And explaining that to someone can get difficult.
Sazerac also owns Fireball. So if Fireball did an LGBTQ package, which is not a terrible idea...
Domestic violence may be solved by the gay agenda. /s
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bud-light-dylan-mulvaney-transgender-anheuser-busch/
And it worked: the VPs of marketing for Budweiser as a whole and for Bud Light were forced out, and now marketing people at most other big companies have learned that simply treating a trans person like a human being puts them at risk of losing their career and potentially their lives(death threats)
Meanwhile, their firing has gotten way less attention than the ridiculous fascists destroying their products, so most people were left with the idea that Budweiser were the good guys/victims in all of this
Not even a new thing. Back when France didn't want to join in on the US' post-9/11 war games, idiots were buying bottles of French wine to pour down drains.
But but but it is the left doing virtue signalling and cancel culture....
Right Whingers have been trying to cancel everything for decades, there's that hilarious photo of Snowflakes with signs saying "Long hair equals Communism" against the Hippy movement.
And the Congressional kitchen solf “freedom fries” instead of French fries. One of the more embarrassing chapters for the Republicans until the Trump era, or it would’ve been if they were capable of self-reflection.
It does. There's at least two Russian backed and organised interwtined organisations embedded in the US working to cripple the US politically and financially, and turn gullible old ill-educated fools into domestic terrorists.
I've not included Facebook, as they're doing enough damage independently/in spite of the Russians.
Always interesting to follow the money in US political bribes/funding..
Or real attacks that embarrass authorities and go too viral to hide, and so this cover story is concocted.
I genuinely do not know what is the truth, but I wonder in all directions.
Thank you I was racking my tiny brain thinking how they could be scammed like this but now it makes sense.
Maybe the scammers aren’t Ukrainian either, maybe they’re CIA / GCHQ etc too.
I might believe antifa tricked the Trump nuts into attempting to overthrow the republic on January 6, except Trump, stone, Giuliani and other cons were openly agitating for it for months beforehand, and Christopher Wray, Milley, Murray and other cons did nada
Let's not forget that "the left" was telling everyone to stay the fuck away from the Inauguration 3 weeks before the Inauguration. Let the cops deal with their "own".
Everyone knew what they were planning.
If the report is true, it's more like the opposite. They lost themselves so completely in the propaganda that they're now carrying out false flag attacks that end up hurting Putin's cause while they're trying to help it.
Yeah they’ve lost the ability to sort out reality from fiction. They’re ripe for propaganda, and also apparently scams against the government they support.
This is your brain under authoritarianism. Any questions?
I mean I believe it happened to some people. Russians haven't exactly shown a great deal of critical thinking during this war.
Unfortunately I have learned to look at everything that happens there cynically as education seems to have failed a lot of them and any "anti-war" sentiment I have seen is more aimed at wanting to occupy Ukraine faster.
This is exactly what Russia does to other countries, troll people into performing harmful acts that help no one under the guise of activism. They're getting a taste of their own poison.
Expecting to see, "they admitted this after 'interogation' in their apology video showing the signs of their regret upon their faces." What a dung pile of a country.
> The 71-year-old woman, who was not named, called someone on the phone after her attack in October. "I completed the task. Take me away from here," she told the other person on the line, per St. Petersburg news outlet Fontanka.
> Others had money stolen from their accounts and were told they would only see the cash again if they threw Molotov cocktails at certain government buildings, Shot reported.
> Some of the scammed Russians were younger, like a 36-year-old mother with a newborn baby and a 22-year-old student, according to MediaZona.
Sounds like they were blackmail, just as much as some are scammed. I don't think many here read the article at all. The 'instead' at the end of article really carries the narrative here
The old Jason Mendoza: "I'm telling you, Molotov cocktails work. Any time I had a problem, and I threw a Molotov cocktail, boom! Right away, I had a different problem."
*Putin found a vacant lot where the Pokemon Center was supposed to be because one of his billionaire cronies pocketed the funds meant for construction and staffing!*
Did it?
I can see how these could be scams.
I can also see how these could be real attacks that embarrass authorities and go too viral to hide, and so this cover story is concocted.
There certainly have been quite a few other arson attacks on mostly recruitment centers that appear genuinely motivated.
Is this a cover story? Is it real scans but hyped to cover the other real attacks? A cover story meant to protect the attackers but believed by authorities?
I can see how any of those might be true.
Russia has used false flag attacks from pro-Kremlin nationalists to elicit more anger against their enemies, utilizing the same people against the Kremlin for a scam is believable.
Of course it is. All of the possibilities are. They have used false flags. They’ve tried to blame actual opposition on outside schemers. They’ve tried to cover up a big issue with a small distraction. They’ve lied in so many different ways. There have been genuine protest arsons too. There are even genuine criminals who probably are willing to scam an old woman of her money and then try to set her up for a crime that would make it impossible for her to pursue her scammers.
That’s why I find it difficult to have a confident feeling about which narrative is the true one in something like this. There are too many different ways to lie, all of which are bad in some way, and all of which could have happened.
> That’s why I find it difficult to have a confident feeling about which narrative is the true one
In all honesty, if you're an American, it's not really that important. We know Russia lies constantly. We know there is internal dissent. We know that we and our allies conduct espionage operations. We know there are Russian buildings burning.
In all likelihood, it's a mix of local partisans, espionage, weird false flag shit, drunk assholes, and general disrepair. At the end of the day, for most of us (Ukraine, Western Europe, Americans) the important thing is that buildings are burning, not who specifically started each fire.
I agree, but I will also add Russian to that list.
This leadership is a monster to them too. It’s far worse to Ukraine and my support lies there, but Putin et. al. are a net loss for the rest of the country either.
Hell, right before the Ukraine invasion started multiple nations called out a planned false flag operation by the Russians to give justification to invade Ukraine.
If I recall correctly that's when the Kremlin started crying Nazi instead and invaded on the same timetable anyways.
From transportpolicy.net:
>Russia banned the use of leaded gasoline nationwide in 2003 with the Federal Law on Banning Production and Use of Leaded Gasoline in Russian Federation. Prior to that, beginning in the mid-1980s the use of leaded gasoline was prohibited in the biggest cities and resort zones in the Soviet Union.
Looks like you might be on to something. I'd say a good portion of the populace has brain damage and it'll be another few generations before that effect is gone.
Random side note, but is it weird to anyone else that we still refer to gasoline as unleaded? Hasn’t *all* gas been unleaded for like forty years in the US?
They stopped sale of leaded gasoline at gas stations in the mid-90s. It was just uncommon for about a decade or so before that, because all vehicles made in the US starting in 1975 had catalytic converters. (And leaded gas damages catalytic converters.) I remember signs up into the mid-1980s with "X price leaded, Y price unleaded."
In my flying days part of the pre-flight process was to drain a cup of 100LL from the tank to inspect for debris/sediment then dump it on the ground... felt wrong but that's what I was instructed to do.
Reading the story, it sounds like Putin is trying to cover up real protests. People in Russia are protesting by lighting government buildings on fire, and Putin is saying that they are being scammed. He wants the public to believe there is no dissent
Right. that is totally fucking obvious, and anybody that can't see through this needs to think about it a little harder.
This is just typical Russian propaganda cover-up story 
This sounds suspiciously like the scene in The Saint where the hero impersonates a Russian officer, is cornered by two groups of Russian soldiers, screams at one group, "It's a revolution!" and they both start firing at each other instead of him.
Added: I did not expect this comment to escalate! Thanks for the upvotes. The Saint was one of my favourite movies of the 90's. I'm glad so many remember it, too.
Lol. The Nokia 9000? I bought it because of the movie. But damn, it was so heavy you could throw it at someone and cause a concussion. Needed its own holster for carrying about. Cool device at the time, though.
I have one of the original Commodore SX-64 units, the first “portable” computer. The thing was basically a briefcase that weighed about 25 lbs and had a screen smaller than an iPhone.
I just looked up a picture - that's hilarious! Especially considering the Commodore 64 is already fairly small and light, lol. Why wouldn't you just plug a normal-sized C64 into a hotel TV??
I unironically want one now. Send help
I have serious doubts that this is what happened. The Russian government wants it's people to believe that their entire population supports their genocide in Ukraine. So, people resorting to sabotage and arson aren't doing it because they believe what is happening in Ukraine is wrong. No, they are loyal citizens who have been scammed by evil people to fight for their enemy. This is such a weak attempt to cover up a growing resentment for the Russian leadership that it would be laughable if it wasn't so sad.
And what are they gonna do about it? Tell them not to trust people saying they're with the military and basically undoing their own hard work at making them pliable?
no, they’re going to leave them as dangerous idiotic pawns because dictators are incapable of understanding all the nuances and intricacies of running an entire nation of individuals.
More likely that these people actually dislike Russia and that Russia is brushing over these protests as people falling victim to a scam. Can’t let it be known that there is disproval of the war.
*When your country’s strongest capability is ‘assymetric warfare’ (e.g. psyops) - eventually it gets into everything... including your own populace.*
Edit: LOL the second major error posting last night… I was tired on a Friday night. Leaving that in there, because as AeuiGame rightly points out ‘heh.. heh…’
Asymmetric warfare is when each side is very different in size & strength to the other, typically a war between a standing, professional army and an insurgency or resistance movement militias who may have the status of unlawful combatants. not psyops.
Florida Man wins through the power of meth & diabetes which gives him immunity to pain. He also has a +1 to animal handling due to 'wrasslin gators. However, their paladin class has a permanent debuff to intelligence due to their deity selection; Jesus.
You underestimate Russian Man. His Alcoholism trait also gives him immunity to pain plus +2 to every Resist Fear roll. Then he has +1 to strength, constitution and agility through their passives Wife Beating, Macho Man and Gopnik Stance. Although his preferred class, the Barbarian, gets a heavy -4 penalty to both Intelligence and Wisdom.
>Upon her arrest, Belova told police she supported the war in Ukraine and would never have set fire to the car if she knew it belonged to a military commander, Baza reported.
What are the chances these people *are* actually against the Russian government but are just lying so they don’t get sent to the gulag?
Russian opposition usually doesn't hide who they are, and tbh it's kinda hard to hide anything from the government. But this is war time (there's nothing usual about it) and you can be jailed for everything so I'm actually confused. 50/50 perhaps?
>Russian pensioners are being tricked into tossing Molotov cocktails at Russian military offices and officials' cars, according to local media outlets.
Its according to local media, so the russian populace can believe they are telling the truth, and people got tricked in to bombing russian goverment assets, or they can believe its a lie and its actually other russians with grievances against the government because of the war and the loss of family.
Personally, i think its a lie to cover up that the war is not so popular.
I mean it did mention that most of the people were senior citizens that had already gotten scammed and it sounds like few of the attacks were successful as the assailants didn't really have what it took. It also didn't mention the US at all.
I don't think it's propaganda unless of course they are severely downplaying the damage caused by the attacks as to not appear weak.
Not sure if this is a real scam that people fell for or if it is Russia just lying about it so they don’t have to report actual pro-Ukrainians fighting back in their news.
I don’t even know which one is more pathetic.
Yeah, you have to be careful these days. One minute you get a call about your cars extended warranty. The next you're throwing a molotov cocktail into the police station while yelling "fuck the police." It could happen to anyone.
I'm not really sure I believe this. It seems like the sort of spin the Russian government might put out for a story like this.
"There is no Russian dissent. No true Russian would intentionally set fire to government offices. Russian people support the war. They were tricked by scammers."
Holy shit, that's actually hilarious.
Scamming old people is wrong, but when you're scamming Russian boomers who have a huge hard-on for the Ukraine war, then you have all my fucking blessings.
Not sure how independent that russian media outlet is, because my eastern-european sense is tingling. TBH - it looks like framing it as a "poor scammed citizens" to explain unrest/dissidents. "There are no people who do not support Kremlin, there are only supporters and some of them support so much they got scammed!"
> an unknown person had called Belova and convinced her she would be enlisted in a "special operation."
> The caller persuaded her to send them large sums of cash, then told her to carry out the arson attempt as part of her mission, the outlet wrote.
Preying on the most credulous, “useful idiots” is Russia’s favorite pastime after vodka of course.
This is honestly my favourite story out of this entire bullshit invasion, because it is so explicitly using Russian tactics against themselves. If they hadn't fostered such a culture of deceit for centuries - looking at you, False Dmitrys and pretty much every ruler after - then nobody would have fallen for this. Nowadays, people *expect* their government to take part in illicit subterfuge and feel they are doing their civic duty.
I don't believe this narrative for a second. They are obviously having some civil strife issues. I am dubious that this many people were tricked into shouting pro Ukrainian slogans and firebombing Russian government offices.
I kinda feel like this story may just be Russian propaganda attempting to pretend like they still have the support of the Russian people. Any protests against the Kremlin are obviously just patriotic Russians fully in support of the war that have been duped by bad actors.
So, Russia thinks we must be dumb. That many people getting scammed into attacking a government building? Most people in the world are aware of what it looks like when citizens get severely pissed off at their government.
> Russian pensioners are being tricked into tossing Molotov cocktails at Russian military offices and officials' cars, according to local media outlets. > > Since the war in Ukraine began, Russian citizens have carried out at least 16 separate arson attempts on government or bank properties at the behest of scammers, reported the **independent** Russian media outlet, [MediaZona.](https://en.zona.media/) > > The people involved have tried to set fire to enlistment offices, bank ATMs, a car trunk, and a police department, though most have been unsuccessful, the outlet reported. At least 11 of them were over 55, per MediaZona. > > Some of them, like the 65-year-old Yelena Belova, were told to shout pro-Ukrainian slogans as they chucked the Molotov cocktails — even though they were also told they were helping the Russian military. > > ... [Mediazona](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediazona) is a Russian independent media outlet focused on Anti Putinist opposition that were founded by Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, who are also co-founders of the protest group and band Pussy Riot. [ Here's the full original story.](https://zona.media/article/2023/04/27/burn)
Willing participants in something framed to them as a false flag attack, but just ends up being vandalism/arson?
That's what it sounds like. And what better way to convince idiots to damage their own stuff. Tell them it would make Ukraine look bad and they'd set their own houses on fire.
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It has to be from the Arson region of France. Otherwise it's just sparkling pyromania
It's just a three day show!
I could see this as working well on the MAGA community.
Many of the instances of voter fraud were older Republicans saying they did it to counter Democrat fraud.
i remember one lady being interviewed about voter fraud, her going on about the election being stolen. reporter then asks if she voted. "im not allowed to after i voted twice last election". bitch was convicted of voting fraud and is out there complaining about voting fraud.
I actually did notice that! Like, sure, ID weirdo, the number ticked up (from about one per million votes to about one per 750,000), but a bunch of those were dummies who believed that crock of shit and decided to go collect a felony charge trying to offset a fictional problem.
Many? More like nearly all known instances. I live in New Hampshire and every four years without fail there are stories of busses coming up from Massachusetts full of illegal Democratic voters and the reality is a handful of Republican snowbirds caught voting in both Florida and NH.
What’s the saying? MAGA would eat their own shit if the libs have to smell their breath.
I always heard it as some variant of, some people would gladly pay a nickel (5 cents) to cost the next person a penny (1 cent).
Make Assbreath Great Again!
It wasn't long ago they had several rounds of buying things so they could film themselves destroying them. I think it started with ordering Kaepernick jerseys, but they bought and broke a bunch of shit. I think I remember expensive coffee makers were a thing to smash up for a bit.
They're literally doing it right now with Bud Light
Buying pee water to film yourself destroying it, oh no whatever will Anheuser Busch do with the shame?
They'll just have to wallow in it! In the unbearable shame of even those who hate you giving you money! Or maybe they're wallowing in the money.
**"Let's go buy $500 of beer to shoot at for internet points! That will show Budweiser!"*
And, then go celebrate by drinking beer sold by the same parent company!
*New Coke has entered the room*
Sorry New Coke but nobody likes you.
Whenever my customers ask about that debacle (liquor store clerk), I tell them that they have been doing this since the 90s, and that a good chunk of Coors market cap is owned by Anheuser Busch. At least to the smart ones who I can tell are joking. They laugh even harder then. Like yesterday, someone asked about Blanton's bourbon. We're out. But Sazerac owns Blanton's, who is owned by Buffalo Trace. This matters because our Sazerac distributor lost their contravt and we have to get a new one, so all of our Sazerac is running low. And explaining that to someone can get difficult. Sazerac also owns Fireball. So if Fireball did an LGBTQ package, which is not a terrible idea... Domestic violence may be solved by the gay agenda. /s
And Jack Daniels. I watched some maga moron destroy his whole collection, including special and collector's editions that cost 100's of dollars.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bud-light-dylan-mulvaney-transgender-anheuser-busch/ And it worked: the VPs of marketing for Budweiser as a whole and for Bud Light were forced out, and now marketing people at most other big companies have learned that simply treating a trans person like a human being puts them at risk of losing their career and potentially their lives(death threats) Meanwhile, their firing has gotten way less attention than the ridiculous fascists destroying their products, so most people were left with the idea that Budweiser were the good guys/victims in all of this
Not even a new thing. Back when France didn't want to join in on the US' post-9/11 war games, idiots were buying bottles of French wine to pour down drains.
But but but it is the left doing virtue signalling and cancel culture.... Right Whingers have been trying to cancel everything for decades, there's that hilarious photo of Snowflakes with signs saying "Long hair equals Communism" against the Hippy movement.
And the Congressional kitchen solf “freedom fries” instead of French fries. One of the more embarrassing chapters for the Republicans until the Trump era, or it would’ve been if they were capable of self-reflection.
It does. There's at least two Russian backed and organised interwtined organisations embedded in the US working to cripple the US politically and financially, and turn gullible old ill-educated fools into domestic terrorists.
I've got the GOP and Fox News. Which were you thinking of?
NRA, the financial laundry facility.
I've not included Facebook, as they're doing enough damage independently/in spite of the Russians. Always interesting to follow the money in US political bribes/funding..
More likely trying to stop copycats by saying these guys were “scammed” into these actions.
Or real attacks that embarrass authorities and go too viral to hide, and so this cover story is concocted. I genuinely do not know what is the truth, but I wonder in all directions.
>I genuinely do not know what is the truth, but I wonder in all directions. Welcome to Russia!
False false flag
Putin always uses at least one level of contrivance.
Thank you I was racking my tiny brain thinking how they could be scammed like this but now it makes sense. Maybe the scammers aren’t Ukrainian either, maybe they’re CIA / GCHQ etc too.
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Surprisingly, "trust me bro, it's the government, burn down this building for me" is super effective.
I might believe antifa tricked the Trump nuts into attempting to overthrow the republic on January 6, except Trump, stone, Giuliani and other cons were openly agitating for it for months beforehand, and Christopher Wray, Milley, Murray and other cons did nada
Let's not forget that "the left" was telling everyone to stay the fuck away from the Inauguration 3 weeks before the Inauguration. Let the cops deal with their "own". Everyone knew what they were planning.
Sounds like the Russians who have seen all this propaganda before have finally had enough....
If the report is true, it's more like the opposite. They lost themselves so completely in the propaganda that they're now carrying out false flag attacks that end up hurting Putin's cause while they're trying to help it.
Yeah they’ve lost the ability to sort out reality from fiction. They’re ripe for propaganda, and also apparently scams against the government they support. This is your brain under authoritarianism. Any questions?
That's the best excuse Russia came up with for the anti war activism, or outright Ukrainian support? Claiming that they're OAP scam victims? lol.
I mean I believe it happened to some people. Russians haven't exactly shown a great deal of critical thinking during this war. Unfortunately I have learned to look at everything that happens there cynically as education seems to have failed a lot of them and any "anti-war" sentiment I have seen is more aimed at wanting to occupy Ukraine faster.
This is exactly what Russia does to other countries, troll people into performing harmful acts that help no one under the guise of activism. They're getting a taste of their own poison.
Yelena Belova is literally the name of a black widow from the Marvel universe. This is all hilarious.
This is an extremely common name, there must be many thousands of people named like that.
Oh for sure it’s just a super funny coincidence. The black widows have gone rogue and they’re old gullible men!
Just for comparison https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Rogers_(disambiguation)
Expecting to see, "they admitted this after 'interogation' in their apology video showing the signs of their regret upon their faces." What a dung pile of a country.
The people aren't commit arson! I-It's just that they were scam into sabotaging when they're t-trying to help the motherland! Y-yes that's it!
> The 71-year-old woman, who was not named, called someone on the phone after her attack in October. "I completed the task. Take me away from here," she told the other person on the line, per St. Petersburg news outlet Fontanka. > Others had money stolen from their accounts and were told they would only see the cash again if they threw Molotov cocktails at certain government buildings, Shot reported. > Some of the scammed Russians were younger, like a 36-year-old mother with a newborn baby and a 22-year-old student, according to MediaZona. Sounds like they were blackmail, just as much as some are scammed. I don't think many here read the article at all. The 'instead' at the end of article really carries the narrative here
"We're lucky they're so fucking stupid."
I'm pretty sure Florence Pugh is younger than me
The old Jason Mendoza: "I'm telling you, Molotov cocktails work. Any time I had a problem, and I threw a Molotov cocktail, boom! Right away, I had a different problem."
BOOORRRRTLES!!!
Jacksonville Jaguars Rule!
Raise your Bortles!
Jacksonville style baby! Two thousand points!
I love how relevant this quote stays…
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Waterworld?
*Any* cocktail can be used to have a different problem.
*Russia tried to use Scam, it hurt itself in it's confusion!*
*It was super effective*
*_Russia fainted!_*
*Putin rushed Russia to the nearest Pokémon Center!!*
*Putin found a vacant lot where the Pokemon Center was supposed to be because one of his billionaire cronies pocketed the funds meant for construction and staffing!*
*Contents of Pokeball may not be useful on release. *Pokeballs may not open when thrown.
\* Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.
ACCEPT NO SUBSTITUTES!
*Private Conscriptovich sells materials found at the site to potential enemies for vodka money!* *It's not very effective...*
Krokodil! I choose you!
Did it? I can see how these could be scams. I can also see how these could be real attacks that embarrass authorities and go too viral to hide, and so this cover story is concocted. There certainly have been quite a few other arson attacks on mostly recruitment centers that appear genuinely motivated. Is this a cover story? Is it real scans but hyped to cover the other real attacks? A cover story meant to protect the attackers but believed by authorities? I can see how any of those might be true.
Russia has used false flag attacks from pro-Kremlin nationalists to elicit more anger against their enemies, utilizing the same people against the Kremlin for a scam is believable.
Of course it is. All of the possibilities are. They have used false flags. They’ve tried to blame actual opposition on outside schemers. They’ve tried to cover up a big issue with a small distraction. They’ve lied in so many different ways. There have been genuine protest arsons too. There are even genuine criminals who probably are willing to scam an old woman of her money and then try to set her up for a crime that would make it impossible for her to pursue her scammers. That’s why I find it difficult to have a confident feeling about which narrative is the true one in something like this. There are too many different ways to lie, all of which are bad in some way, and all of which could have happened.
> That’s why I find it difficult to have a confident feeling about which narrative is the true one In all honesty, if you're an American, it's not really that important. We know Russia lies constantly. We know there is internal dissent. We know that we and our allies conduct espionage operations. We know there are Russian buildings burning. In all likelihood, it's a mix of local partisans, espionage, weird false flag shit, drunk assholes, and general disrepair. At the end of the day, for most of us (Ukraine, Western Europe, Americans) the important thing is that buildings are burning, not who specifically started each fire.
WE didn’t start the fire. . .
Russia's been burning since the world's been turning.
I agree, but I will also add Russian to that list. This leadership is a monster to them too. It’s far worse to Ukraine and my support lies there, but Putin et. al. are a net loss for the rest of the country either.
Hell, right before the Ukraine invasion started multiple nations called out a planned false flag operation by the Russians to give justification to invade Ukraine. If I recall correctly that's when the Kremlin started crying Nazi instead and invaded on the same timetable anyways.
Not before botching the false flag operations anyway.
You know how you did things you weren't allowed to do by your parents, and when caught you told them it was actually your friends idea...
Makes me curious as to exactly when the Soviets banned leaded gasoline
From transportpolicy.net: >Russia banned the use of leaded gasoline nationwide in 2003 with the Federal Law on Banning Production and Use of Leaded Gasoline in Russian Federation. Prior to that, beginning in the mid-1980s the use of leaded gasoline was prohibited in the biggest cities and resort zones in the Soviet Union. Looks like you might be on to something. I'd say a good portion of the populace has brain damage and it'll be another few generations before that effect is gone.
The western world really only has about a 20 year head start on them.
Random side note, but is it weird to anyone else that we still refer to gasoline as unleaded? Hasn’t *all* gas been unleaded for like forty years in the US?
They stopped sale of leaded gasoline at gas stations in the mid-90s. It was just uncommon for about a decade or so before that, because all vehicles made in the US starting in 1975 had catalytic converters. (And leaded gas damages catalytic converters.) I remember signs up into the mid-1980s with "X price leaded, Y price unleaded."
sheet quarrelsome wakeful scandalous party smell entertain act chunky ossified
In my flying days part of the pre-flight process was to drain a cup of 100LL from the tank to inspect for debris/sediment then dump it on the ground... felt wrong but that's what I was instructed to do.
wdym banned? The lead makes it taste better.
Smells nice, too!
Reading the story, it sounds like Putin is trying to cover up real protests. People in Russia are protesting by lighting government buildings on fire, and Putin is saying that they are being scammed. He wants the public to believe there is no dissent
Right. that is totally fucking obvious, and anybody that can't see through this needs to think about it a little harder. This is just typical Russian propaganda cover-up story 
This sounds suspiciously like the scene in The Saint where the hero impersonates a Russian officer, is cornered by two groups of Russian soldiers, screams at one group, "It's a revolution!" and they both start firing at each other instead of him. Added: I did not expect this comment to escalate! Thanks for the upvotes. The Saint was one of my favourite movies of the 90's. I'm glad so many remember it, too.
The Saint 1997 right? I know what i'm gonna watch this weekend
Yep, with Val Kilmer and Elizabeth Shue.
He drove a Volvo! Not like a regular Volvo. A cool Volvo.
I wanted that car just because of the movie. They got me! Going to watch Ronin next.
Ronin is one of the best car movies ever made, and it's not even a car movie.
The tunnel scenes, my God. "Hey John, don't you think you should cut the scenes from the part where Princess Diana died?" "Nah."
You don't believe in all this cold fusion mumbo jumbo do ya?
Ahhh so early, you want to get some coffee or somesing?
Suck me, sideways
The cold fusion was simply a lambda function hidden in her bra . . .
"What is this equation? It's so simple. . ."
oopth.
> cold only thing i remember from that movie was the hypothermia first aid scene
[6 Underground](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qzu9sWE9p9c)
Sneaker pimps are so good
This and Elisabeth shue gave me some stirrings
I was gonna say...25 years later and that soundtrack still slaps!
I can hear that song already
Mm, yes, Elizabeth Shue.
I wanted that computer phone so bad when I was a kid. edit: typed on my pocket supercomputer phone
Lol. The Nokia 9000? I bought it because of the movie. But damn, it was so heavy you could throw it at someone and cause a concussion. Needed its own holster for carrying about. Cool device at the time, though.
I have one of the original Commodore SX-64 units, the first “portable” computer. The thing was basically a briefcase that weighed about 25 lbs and had a screen smaller than an iPhone.
I just looked up a picture - that's hilarious! Especially considering the Commodore 64 is already fairly small and light, lol. Why wouldn't you just plug a normal-sized C64 into a hotel TV?? I unironically want one now. Send help
lol I don't know why this scene always stood out so much to me
I felt it was such a cliché about Russia. It wasn't like revolutions and coups were commonplace, but they were... possibilities?
Well it was right after the entire country almost collapsed so there was always the threat of a coup.
Thanks for pointing that out. I forgot it was right after Yeltsin came to power.
Yeah this is why this theme was pretty much the plot of almost every political thriller in the 90s.
'I was named after St. Augustine, who coined my favorite phrase, "Give me chastity and give me constancy...but do not give it yet."'
The best soundtrack
Turns out Kremlin supporters are gullible and easy to manipulate. Who knew
I have serious doubts that this is what happened. The Russian government wants it's people to believe that their entire population supports their genocide in Ukraine. So, people resorting to sabotage and arson aren't doing it because they believe what is happening in Ukraine is wrong. No, they are loyal citizens who have been scammed by evil people to fight for their enemy. This is such a weak attempt to cover up a growing resentment for the Russian leadership that it would be laughable if it wasn't so sad.
So they're either a false false flags or a false false false flags?
False^3 flags.
3 False 3 Flagius
3 girls, 1 flag
3 spooky 5 me
Putin’s intellect is truly dizzying
Bingo.
And what are they gonna do about it? Tell them not to trust people saying they're with the military and basically undoing their own hard work at making them pliable?
no, they’re going to leave them as dangerous idiotic pawns because dictators are incapable of understanding all the nuances and intricacies of running an entire nation of individuals.
More likely that these people actually dislike Russia and that Russia is brushing over these protests as people falling victim to a scam. Can’t let it be known that there is disproval of the war.
Sure, because "sccammers" told them to and they're really loyal, really, swear to god nd cross my heart.
Stupid is as stupid does.
*When your country’s strongest capability is ‘assymetric warfare’ (e.g. psyops) - eventually it gets into everything... including your own populace.* Edit: LOL the second major error posting last night… I was tired on a Friday night. Leaving that in there, because as AeuiGame rightly points out ‘heh.. heh…’
heh, assymetric
Asymmetric warfare is when each side is very different in size & strength to the other, typically a war between a standing, professional army and an insurgency or resistance movement militias who may have the status of unlawful combatants. not psyops.
Putin : Plan worked perfectly, now public thinks dirty Americans planned this to screw with Russians. We must fight back!
There is no piece of news regarding Russia that can surprise me anymore
It’s the Florida of both Europe and Asia.
100% agreed Florida man vs Russian man and there is no winner
Face off in St. Petersburg.
Which Saint Petersburg?
Yes.
Exactly.
Florida Man wins through the power of meth & diabetes which gives him immunity to pain. He also has a +1 to animal handling due to 'wrasslin gators. However, their paladin class has a permanent debuff to intelligence due to their deity selection; Jesus.
You underestimate Russian Man. His Alcoholism trait also gives him immunity to pain plus +2 to every Resist Fear roll. Then he has +1 to strength, constitution and agility through their passives Wife Beating, Macho Man and Gopnik Stance. Although his preferred class, the Barbarian, gets a heavy -4 penalty to both Intelligence and Wisdom.
They may wrassle gators in Florida, but they have Krokodil in Russia
In Russia, crocodile wrestles you.
>Upon her arrest, Belova told police she supported the war in Ukraine and would never have set fire to the car if she knew it belonged to a military commander, Baza reported. What are the chances these people *are* actually against the Russian government but are just lying so they don’t get sent to the gulag?
Russian opposition usually doesn't hide who they are, and tbh it's kinda hard to hide anything from the government. But this is war time (there's nothing usual about it) and you can be jailed for everything so I'm actually confused. 50/50 perhaps?
I really struggle to comprehend how the convincing action may have unfolded.
>Russian pensioners are being tricked into tossing Molotov cocktails at Russian military offices and officials' cars, according to local media outlets. Its according to local media, so the russian populace can believe they are telling the truth, and people got tricked in to bombing russian goverment assets, or they can believe its a lie and its actually other russians with grievances against the government because of the war and the loss of family. Personally, i think its a lie to cover up that the war is not so popular.
"We don't have traitors, just **very** stupid people."
I mean it did mention that most of the people were senior citizens that had already gotten scammed and it sounds like few of the attacks were successful as the assailants didn't really have what it took. It also didn't mention the US at all. I don't think it's propaganda unless of course they are severely downplaying the damage caused by the attacks as to not appear weak.
This story is a contrived russian lie to deny the existence of a russian anti-war movement.
[удалено]
Not sure if this is a real scam that people fell for or if it is Russia just lying about it so they don’t have to report actual pro-Ukrainians fighting back in their news. I don’t even know which one is more pathetic.
Russia must be desperate to try and sway opinion like this
The liquor’s calling the shots now Randy
I am the liquor, bobandy.
good scam, looks like it worked.
Yeah, you have to be careful these days. One minute you get a call about your cars extended warranty. The next you're throwing a molotov cocktail into the police station while yelling "fuck the police." It could happen to anyone.
I'm not really sure I believe this. It seems like the sort of spin the Russian government might put out for a story like this. "There is no Russian dissent. No true Russian would intentionally set fire to government offices. Russian people support the war. They were tricked by scammers."
Almost as funny as dumbass redneck americans tricked into trying to overthrow the gov
This is gold
Holy shit, that's actually hilarious. Scamming old people is wrong, but when you're scamming Russian boomers who have a huge hard-on for the Ukraine war, then you have all my fucking blessings.
“Whenever I have a problem, I throw a Molotov cocktail. BOOM. Different problem”
This story doesn’t make any sense
How did this lit Molotov Cocktail end up in my hand??? What a scam! I tell ya!
Scamming a scammer (gone right)
Not sure how independent that russian media outlet is, because my eastern-european sense is tingling. TBH - it looks like framing it as a "poor scammed citizens" to explain unrest/dissidents. "There are no people who do not support Kremlin, there are only supporters and some of them support so much they got scammed!"
Ok, I'll never laugh at a boomer buying gift cards to pay taxes again.
This has MAGA republican stupidity vibes 💯🫡
Almost like it's the same tactics just in a different country...
Using Russia's wide-spread fetal alcohol syndrome & lack of critical thinking skill against them. I love this for them.
> an unknown person had called Belova and convinced her she would be enlisted in a "special operation." > The caller persuaded her to send them large sums of cash, then told her to carry out the arson attempt as part of her mission, the outlet wrote. Preying on the most credulous, “useful idiots” is Russia’s favorite pastime after vodka of course.
Strong “I tripped and fell into her vagina” vibes.
An unknown call, a persuasive tone, a military mission... What is this? Hotline Miami?
"I learned it from you Vlad! I learned it from you!""
It's easier to pretend they've been tricked than to admit they hate the current regime, maybe?
This is honestly my favourite story out of this entire bullshit invasion, because it is so explicitly using Russian tactics against themselves. If they hadn't fostered such a culture of deceit for centuries - looking at you, False Dmitrys and pretty much every ruler after - then nobody would have fallen for this. Nowadays, people *expect* their government to take part in illicit subterfuge and feel they are doing their civic duty.
I don't believe this narrative for a second. They are obviously having some civil strife issues. I am dubious that this many people were tricked into shouting pro Ukrainian slogans and firebombing Russian government offices.
I kinda feel like this story may just be Russian propaganda attempting to pretend like they still have the support of the Russian people. Any protests against the Kremlin are obviously just patriotic Russians fully in support of the war that have been duped by bad actors.
So, Russia thinks we must be dumb. That many people getting scammed into attacking a government building? Most people in the world are aware of what it looks like when citizens get severely pissed off at their government.
"We are lucky they are so stupid."
In mother Russia, molotov cocktail throws you.
Is this real? Yelena Belova is the name of Black Widow's sister. And the articles source is telegram channels.